Israeli court sentences terrorist to 35 years for stabbing 2 police officers

Ayman Kurd was given 35 years for stabbing and wounding two police officers at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City. 

By: World Israel News Staff

The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday sentenced Palestinian terrorist Ayman Kurd to 35 years in prison for the stabbing and wounding of two policemen at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City in September 2016.

He was also ordered to pay NIS 330,000 ($92,000) in damages to the two victims.

Policewoman Tzipi Yaakobian, who was as on her way to work with another officer when they were attacked, was gravely wounded. She sustained a neck wound which rendered her handicapped, while the second victim, a 45-year old male officer, was moderately wounded.

The terrorist was shot and wounded.

Yaakobian, 38 and a mother of two, was hospitalized in serious condition for weeks and then began a prolonged rehabilitation process, but she remains disabled as a result of the attack.

The court noted in its decision that Kurd, a 21-year-old from Hebron, was motivated to carry out the attack after his cousin stabbed an IDF soldier before being shot dead.

The judges also noted that the sentence was “severe and exceptional” but “was necessary, given the severe and exceptional circumstances of his acts and their serious outcomes.”

The terrorist “showed determination and cruelty in his intent to kill. The defendant followed the policemen, attacked them from behind and stabbed them… until the knife broke from the force of the attack,” the judges underscored.